A surgical or invasive care suite is typically classified into separate types of areas, which include one or more “sterile” fields and one or more “non-sterile” fields. The sterile and non-sterile fields are typically included in the same physical space (e.g., a single operating room), with an imaginary vertical barrier being the only separation between these areas. In general, the sterile fields include areas where the highest level of sterility is required, which include the patient on which the procedure is being performed, the doctors, surgeons, and other medical personnel participating in the surgical procedure, the instruments and medical equipment required for the surgical procedure, and the entire area that immediately surrounds the sterile equipment and personnel. The sizes of these areas are preferably made to be as small as possible due to the difficulty and costs associated with maintaining sterile environments. For example, a sterile field may comprise only a table holding sterile instruments, along with the space immediately above that object. The non-sterile fields will typically comprise the remainder of the surgical suite that is not included in the sterile field or fields, which can include all equipment and personnel that are needed for the surgery but that need not be maintained in a completely sterile condition. However, it is typical to prepare or configure equipment, fluid, instruments, or other items in the non-sterile areas for transfer into the sterile area to be used in the surgical procedure. Several methods and devices have been created for such a transfer of equipment and materials so that the sterility plane is not broken; however, this can be difficult to accomplish, particularly when the item being transferred is a volume of fluid.
In current applications, a fluid may be prepared in a non-sterile environment and subsequently transferred to a sterile environment in such a way that the fluid does not become contaminated. One method of performing such a fluid transfer is to first provide the fluid to a syringe by placing a sterile syringe tip into the fluid and drawing it into the barrel of the syringe, such as by withdrawing a plunger of the syringe relative to the syringe barrel. This fluid is then transferred to the sterile field by positioning the syringe so that it crosses the plane between the sterile and non-sterile fields, and then discharging the fluid into an open, sterile container (e.g., a sterile bowl or similar container) that is preferably immediately adjacent to the boundary between the fields. The fluid is then available for use in the sterile area of the surgical suite. Although this method can be satisfactory in some circumstances, there is a risk of fluids being spilled during or after the process of transferring fluid to an open container and there is also a risk that the non-sterile syringe will come in contact with and thereby contaminate the sterile bowl or other items in the sterile field. In addition, it can often be difficult to remove all of the fluid from the open container in cases where fluid is being removed using an instrument such as syringe. This can thereby result in fluid being left behind in the container, which will often be discarded since it cannot be saved or reused. In some cases, such fluid loss can be acceptable, but in cases where the fluid is very expensive and/or rare, for example, the loss of even a tiny amount of fluid can be unacceptable. Similarly, fluids containing cellular or protein therapies, and the like, may become activated or otherwise caused to undergo unwanted changes. There is therefore a need for a fluid management system that minimizes the risks and costs described above while transferring fluid between a non-sterile environment and a sterile environment and/or between other types of environments.